cone that was engraved on the silver disk. An appendage on the bottom resembled a giant, flattened starfish. The entire body was covered with light brown fur.
Then something in the room changed. Paul took an involuntary step backward. Pressure was building inside him. Daddy ...
The pressure heightened and became a strong sensation of awareness inside his head. He covered his ears with his hands, but the voice penetrated deep into him.
Daddy . . .
Through the darkness he felt a calming touch. He reached out to pull it close.
The strength of the child.
Time passed. Shadows flitted through him, and he was aware of exterior sounds and movement, but he couldn't bring the presence in. He didn't want to bring it in.
Reality lurched.
He became aware of light filtering through his closed eyelids, of cool air on his face and of something solid behind his back.
He drew in a shuddering breath and opened his eyes. At first nothing made sense: the circular room littered with rubble, thick vines creeping across the floor and up the broken walls, the oddly shaped pedestals. Then his eyes found Selmer and Karyn where they stood against the wall, blinking around as if roused from a deep sleep. Seeing them brought back a sense of reality.
With a feeling of dread, Paul forced himself to look toward the middle of the room. The air above the chauka was still.
'She's gone,' Doriand said quietly. Paul tried to speak, and instead coughed to clear the drying raspness of his throat. 'She?' He was having trouble concentrating on Dorland's words. 152
CLARION 153
William Greenleaf
'Female, yes,' Dorland said. 'She gave me her name, but I couldn't get it right. She was here only a few minutes, then she . . . faded away. I don't know why. She talked to me. I couldn't understand much of what she said, but there's no doubt she's Tal Tahir.'
Paul tried again to get his thoughts in order. She's Tal Tahir. That made no sense. Lord Tern certainly did not resemble a man, but at least he had two legs and two functioning arms and a head that looked somewhat humanoid. The creature that had stood swaying above the chauka had none of those things. One part of what Dorland had said somehow
struck him as even more implausible than the rest.
'You talked to her?'
Dorland nodded.
'I didn't—'
'You and the others blacked out. She tried to communicate, but it was too strong for you. She knew something was wrong, and was trying to overcome it. I think she had determined a way to lessen the effect of her presence on you before she went away.'
'But you ...'
'My training helped, somehow. The technique Elder Jamis taught me—I was able to close off those parts of my mind that were affected by her communication. I've never done it before, but it seemed natural.'
'How long were we out?' Karyn asked.
'About ten minutes.' Dorland's eyes moved restlessly around the room, returned to the chauka.
'That's how long she stayed.'
Paul focused his eyes on Dorland. 'How do you know she was Tal Tahir?'
